Your Zika Apathy Is Spreading the Virus

You may not be a pregnant woman. You may not be the partner of a pregnant woman. But if you don’t care about Zika, you’re part of the problem.

That’s the message that Joseph Conlon, a technical adviser for the American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA), wants the public to hear as the virus continues to spread via local transmission in Florida.

“It’s a social responsibility issue,” he told The Daily Beast. “Anyone who gets bitten by a mosquito that is harboring the virus is potentially the means for that mosquito to transmit it to someone else.”

Local transmission of Zika in the continental United States began in Miami-Dade county, but it has since spread to both Pinellas and Palm Beach counties, bringing the statewide total to 43 locally acquired cases. So far, Florida remains the only state with such cases but that could change—especially if the public doesn’t take the threat seriously. Continue reading.